Cruise control mystery

[Astar24]

Hello everybody,
i researched about it, but my problem could be due to many different causes, and hopefully you can help me a bit.
My cruise control was not working, i thought because the buttons were shot, and thus i replaced them with new ones. All the cables and plugs are in order inside the steering wheel, because I just put them on and nothing seemed bad, so maybe the problem is somewhere else. No lights come on in the panel. I was wondering that maybe the previous owner, being afraid that the shot buttons would cause some hazard to the use of the cruise control, decided to "disengage" it from somewhere, maybe under the hood. The fuses should be ok, because everything else is working, unless there's a specific fuse that controls uniquely the cruise, but it didn't seem so in the owner manual.
any idea would be appreciated
thanks a lot
Andrea

 

[mawrazen]

Could be a bad or missing fuse. (check the owners manual)

Also check out the vacuum line and throttle cable linkage (from the cruise control actuator) if it is not electrical.

 

[jad2411]

Check the clock spring

 

[mawrazen]

Owners manual 1996 Explorer.

Dead Link Removed

According to the manual the fuse for the speed control is #13 (15 amps) this circuit also is for the stoplights and ABS so it may not be that fuse.

Then check fuse # 27 (15 amps) Dimmer switch illumination. (I think this is your problem)

Hope this helps! Good Luck!

 

[Astar24]

thanks everybody. I checked the fuses and they're all good.
the cables and linkages under the hood are in the correct positions and linked, but I noticed that they're pretty loose (the cable for example) and they don't tense.
what's the clock spring?
what else can I check?
thanks

 

[SensRanger]

Have you checked out your cruise control deactivation (aka brake pressure) switch & had the warranty work completed on your 01?

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=177343&highlight=cruise+control+deactivation

 

[jad2411]

The clock spring is the ribon that goes inside the steering wheel, it connects the horn, cruise and radio or ac controls (if any)

 

[jad2411]

Clock spring:

To remove (at your own risk, carefull with the airbag):
disconnect neg batery terminal
take off steering column cover
take off caps on each side of the steering wheel, you'll find screws take those off
remove airbag
disconnect yellow cable (airbag)
now it's been a while so I don't remember how to take the clock spring off so look around (it's not too hard)
This is the connector that goes thru the steering column:

This is where you connect the horn and cruise control, next to the yellow one:

So what I did was connect a 3v battery to one end, and a cable to the other end hooked up to a led, the other side of the battery to the led & then touched each pin to close the circuit (one connector to one pin), if you don't get the led to light up, then the ribbon is damaged, you'll need to get a new clock spring

hope this helps

 

[budwich]

Before you start going at the clockspring, make sure you get a meter and check things (as mentioned) like your brake pressure switch (common problem, lots of posts and even fires) and your BOO switch (again lots of posts).

 

[Astar24]

thanks guys, I'll check both as soon as I can!

 

[aldive]

Do you have 12 v power at the switch?

 

[Cobraguy]

Before you start going at the clockspring, make sure you get a meter and check things (as mentioned) like your brake pressure switch (common problem, lots of posts and even fires) and your BOO switch (again lots of posts).

Best advice in this thread. KISS always is the best policy. Do the obvious first.

 

[Astar24]

what's the boo switch?

 

[Texan01]

I ran into this earlier this year on a road trip, the cruise was working and then just quit and then started working again.

Drive where you can set the cruise and watch the 'Speed Cont' light to see if it flashes quickly. If it does, it's more than likely the BOO (Brake On/Off switch) or the switch on the end of the brake master cylinder (the one that caused the fires)

Mine wound up being the deactivator switch on the master cylinder getting some corrosion in the socket.

The cruise control is all electric on the 2nd gens.

Besides a quick way to check the clockspring without taking anything apart is to honk the horn or check to see if the cruise control buttons light up. If all that works then the clockspring is good.

 

[jad2411]

Besides a quick way to check the clockspring without taking anything apart is to honk the horn or check to see if the cruise control buttons light up. If all that works then the clockspring is good.

I'm sorry my friend but you are mistaken, the clockspring is a ribon with 6 cables running inside, if only one of them is messed up, only the feature connected to that will fail

 

[Texan01]

I'm sorry my friend but you are mistaken, the clockspring is a ribon with 6 cables running inside, if only one of them is messed up, only the feature connected to that will fail

I realize that, I was trying to give him a quick and easy check. I've had them fail before on other cars and they failed completely in that nothing attached to the steering wheel worked.

I start with the easiest test first and then work my way up to the head-scratchers.

 

[Astar24]

thanks guys, I'll check the clock spring. I already opened the steering wheel when I changed the cruise buttons, because they were shot.
I also called Ford (...) about the recall on the brake pressure switch on the master cylinder, and they told me to bring the car tomorrow and they would do the recall. I hope..